The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a communication system including the same, and a semiconductor device suitable for wireless baseband transmission and a communication system including the same.
There is a technique that uses electromagnetic coupling between antennas that are closely disposed relative to each other and performs data transmission between semiconductor chips respectively connected to the antennas as non-contact and high-speed baseband transmission. Such a communication method enables high-speed transmission and eliminates the need for a modulation circuit, thereby being also effective in reduction of power consumption. Note that in the wireless baseband transmission, the semiconductor chip transmits a signal to another semiconductor chip via the antenna or receives a signal transmitted from another semiconductor chip via the antenna.
Y. Yoshida et al., “A 2 Gb/s Bi-Directional Inter-Chip Data Transceiver With Differential Inductors for High Density Inductive Channel Array”, IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS, 2008, VOL. 43, NO. 11, pp 2363-2369 and N. Miura et al., “A High-Speed Inductive-Coupling Link With Burst Transmission”, IEEE JOURNAL OF SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS, 2009, VOL. 44, NO. 3, pp. 947-955 disclose a technique to form an antenna (inductor) in a semiconductor chip. However, in this case, as the size of the antenna is reduced (as inductance is reduced, for example), there has been a problem that the communication distance will be extremely short.
T. Takeya et al., “A 12 Gb/s Non-Contact Interface with Coupled Transmission Lines”, IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference, Digest of Technical Papers, 2011, pp. 492-494 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-278051 disclose a solution to the problem. T. Takeya et al. and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-278051 disclose a technique to form an antenna on a mounting substrate outside a semiconductor package.
In addition, Japanese Patent Nos. 3563672, 3926323, and 3877732 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2006-221211 and 2005-38232 disclose a technique to form an antenna in a semiconductor package.
In a high-frequency module disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3563672, an integrated circuit chip, other electronic components, and an antenna that compose a high frequency circuit are sealed by resin mold, and only a first resin mold part for sealing the integrated circuit chip and other electronic components is covered with a metal shield case for electromagnetic shielding.
In a semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3926323, a semiconductor chip is mounted on a semiconductor chip mounting member, a plurality of divided antennas are disposed around the semiconductor chip mounting member, and the semiconductor chip mounting member, the semiconductor chip, and the plurality of divided antennas are sealed by sealing resin.
A semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3877732 includes a semiconductor element, a mounting part for mounting the semiconductor element, an antenna part provided to surround the mounting part via an open window part, and sealing resin. Note that a part between a cutting path where lead frames are cut after being sealed and the open window part is exposed to a side of the seal resin as an antenna part.
A semiconductor device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-221211 includes a semiconductor chip with a semiconductor integrated circuit and a radio tag circuit formed thereon and a semiconductor package. A conductive pattern to be an antenna is formed in this semiconductor package.
An integrated circuit device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-38232 includes a die pad with a rectangular integrated circuit mounted thereon, two antenna lands disposed to surround the die pad, and a separation part for the two antenna lands that are disposed in a substantially diagonal direction. Note that the die pad and the two antenna lands are composed of lead frames.